Mobility Skills

To begin, I want you to imagine your every day routine. In order to complete the tasks you have in-stored for the day, you must first get out of bed. Once your out of bed, you might get in and out of the bath tub, get in your car, drive to work/school, etc. These things come natural to you right? We do these things absent-minded every single day. But take a step back and imagine how your day would go if you could not even reach the first step to begin your day: Getting out of bed.
Mobility skills are necessary in order to be a functionally independent human being.
Individuals who lack the confidence or ability to successfully transfer throughout the day, can work to restore these qualities.
The order for restoring mobility based skills are as follows (easiest to hardest): bed mobility, mat transfer, wheelchair transfer, bed transfer, functional ambulation for ADL, toliet/tub transfer, car transfer, functional ambulation for community mobility, and community mobility and driving.
I think this approach can be a successful way to guide clients in the right direction. We can use this hierarchy as a way to set goals for our clients who want to increase his/her activity demands.
According to what I have learned in this class and my past experiences, I think that this hierarchy is right on track. However, all clients progress at different speeds and different levels so it might not always be sufficient to follow the sequence perfectly. As occupational therapist, this is a time when we should in force adaptability.